Tag Archives: red sox broadcaster

With more details about the confrontation between Dennis Eckersley and David Price emerging, some are wondering who’s in charge in the front office. The Red Sox management is suffering from a credibility problem. Reports about the lack of respect John Farrell gets have circulated for months. It didn’t seem like anyone could control Pablo Sandoval at all. Sandoval did want he wanted when he wanted.

With new details about the Eckersley and Price confrontation comes questions about where Red Sox management was in all this? Anyone Red Sox fan worth his salt knows who Dennis Eckersley is. A former Cy Young Winner, MVP, and Baseball Hall of Famer, Eckersley currently works as a broadcaster with the Red Sox. Eckersley recently made comments about Price’s pitching in a game a few weeks back and Price took issue. Using taunts and “F” bombs, Price slammed Eckersley.

First of all, who does Price think he is? Eckersley called him out for not covering first base in a game a few weeks back and he was absolutely right to do so. Price messed up and Eckersley called him out for it. So instead of learning a lesson, he decided to insult a Hall of Famer because he thought that’s how he’d retain his dignity.

Classy.

By the way, Dennis Eckersley is also a recovering alcoholic who has endured more pain in his life than most ballplayers have. Price probably knows this, and still acted like a self-entitled jerk towards him. But what about Red Sox management? Why’d they let Price get away with this?

Red Sox Management Could Learn A Few Things About Leadership

Years ago I was teaching at an all-boys military school down in Virginia. Veterans of the Marines, Army, and other branches of the military taught there. One day during lunch a former solider told me a story about what it means to command. He was telling me about a video that went viral showing a man dressed in a Sergeant Major’s dress uniform attending a funeral. He clearly wasn’t in the Army, but he was pretending to be for attention. In the video, three real Army soldiers asked the impersonating Sergeant Major where he’d served and what medals he’d earned. The soldiers wanted to make an example of the impersonator. The poorly groomed uniform, or the way the impersonator stood, wasn’t what gave it away though.

What gave him away was the way the impersonator handled the questions. “A real Sergeant Major would NEVER put up with that kind of questioning. If he had been real, he would have reamed out those soldiers for even questioning him.” In other words, a real leader doesn’t let subordinates push him around.

But that’s exactly what’s happening to Dave Dombrowski and John Farrell. David Price confronts a Hall of Famer and nothing’s really done about it. Why didn’t Farrell confront Price immediately and demand he apologize to Eckersley? Yes, it’s childish, but that’s exactly how Price acted.

Dombrowski and Farrell need to step up their aggressive leadership. They’re getting pushed around and the rest of the team is suffering for it.